Load restrainer

ABSTRACT

A unitary load retainer or restrainer system for a vehicular load carrying container or the like, including a supporting sheet of material suspended from a horizontal rod that rides in tracks so that the restraining system may be moved fore and aft within the container as desired, the supporting sheet material being provided with a plurality of horizontally extending slots that receive load restraining belts having fasteners at either end that are connectable to openings in logistic rails that extend along the interior of the container, the slots in the supporting sheet of material permitting vertical adjustment of the horizontal belts to accommodate for different locations of the logistic rails within different vehicular containers, there being also provided means for loosely holding the belts within the slots so that the belts may not be inadvertently removed from the supporting sheet of material and lost, there being also provided a draw strap having a plurality of slots that receive the belts and a portion which extends up over the horizontal sliding rod at the top of the container with a fastener at the end thereof that may be fixed in any one of the logistic rails as desired to draw the entire supporting sheet and belts to the top of the vehicular container during non-use or loading of the container.

United States Patent [191 Williamson, III

[ Jan. 1,1974

[ LOAD RESTRAINER George R. Williamson, III, Richton Park, 111.

[73] Assignee: Transport Basics International, Inc.,

Richton Park, 111.

22 Filed: Sept. 18, 1972 21 Appl. No.: 289,955

[75] Inventor:

Primary ExaminerLeo Friaglia Assistant Examiner-Randall A. SchrecengostAn0rneyAxel A. Hofgren et a1.

[57] I ABSTRACT A unitary load retainer or restrainer system for avehicular load carrying container or the like, including a supportingsheet of material suspended from a horizontal rod that rides in tracksso that the restraining system may be moved fore and aft within thecontainer as desired, the supporting sheet material being provided witha plurality of horizontally extending slots that receive loadrestraining belts having fasteners at either end that are connectable toopenings in logistic rails that extend along the interior of thecontainer, the slots in the supporting sheet of material permittingvertical adjustment of the horizontal belts to accommodate for differentlocations of the logistic rails within different vehicular containers,there being also provided means for loosely holding the belts within theslots so that the belts may not be inadvertently removed from thesupporting sheet of material and lost, there being also provided a drawstrap having a plurality of slots that receive the belts and a portionwhich extends up over the horizontal sliding rod at the top of thecontainer with a fastener at the end thereof that may be fixed in anyone of the logistic rails as desired to draw the entire supporting sheetand belts to the top of the vehicular container during non-use orloading of the container.

15 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures LOAD RESTRAINER BACKGROUND or THE PRESENTINVENTION The present invention relates to load dividers and restrainersfor vehicular containers that serve either to separate portions of theload within the container or restrain part or all of the load within thecontainer. Most vehicles are specially constructed to receive varioustypes of load restraining or dividing devices. One such specialadaptation includes a plurality of horizontally extending logistic railsfixed to the sides of the container and extending fore and aft; therein.These logistic rails include metal channels that have a plurality ofslots therein. These. slots receive fasteners that are fixed to the endsof bars or flexible belts that extend across the inside of thecontainer.

The use of these belts or bars has raised serious problems in thetransportation industry.

In the transportation industry, it is quite common to transfer loads orpartial loads from one carrier to another carrier in the goods route totheir destination. Such a transfer involves the unloading of onevehicle, such as a railroad car, and the subsequent loading of theremoved, goods onto another vehicle such as a semitrailer. During such,transfers, it is very common for the restraining belts or bars. to beinadvertently, or sometimes intentionally through theft, removed fromone of the vehicles. This is a considerable problem because of thesignificant cost of continually replacing the belts or bars which arenormally assigned to a specific vehicle or container. 7

While there has been no attempt in the pastto solve the problem ofrestraining belt and bar loss, there have been provided several forms ofpartitions or restrainers in vehicular containers that require somecomment. One such retainer consists of a rigid wall mounted toward therear of the vehicular container and swingable from a downward lowerposition to an upward loading position. For holding the rigid panel inthe retaining position, a hydraulic jack mechanism is provided thatengages the sides of the container. This structure is extremely costly,subject, to constant malfunction, and difficult for freight handlers. tooperate properly. Moreover, the structure is extremely expensive andwhen damaged is very costly to replace or repair.

The Jeffrey US. Pat. No. 980,789, issued, Jan. 3, 1911, shows a chainnetwork separator for an animal shelter. The problem of belt or bar lossis not presented in the animal shelter environment, which no doubt is ona farm, and moreover, the horizontal chains must be aligned with theenclosure side boards to provide maximum load restraining capabilities.

The Falk U'.S. Pat. No. 3,638,450 shows a flexible curtain thatseparates. a container and rolls up for storage at the top of thecontainer, but fails to. teach any novel manner of attaching the end ofthe draw cord to the container side walls.

The Singer US. Pat. No. 3,316,599 shows an axially movable bulkhead forarefrigeration container, but. the curtain is transversely foldable forloading and unloading' and provides an extremely complicated andexpensive structure.

It is a primary object of the present invention to minimize the problemsset forth in the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION- In accordance with the present invention, aload divider and restrainer is provided for a vehicular container thatis unitary in construction and carries a plurality of restraining beltsthat may not be removed from the vehicle. The load restrainer is axiallyslidable on horizontally extending tracks at the top of the containerfrom one end of the container to the other to separate the load orrestrain the load wherever desired in the vehicle. If desired, more thanone load divider restrainer may be provided in the same set of tracks torestrain ordivide the load at multiple points.

Toward this end, a horizontal rod having guides slidable in the tracksupports a looped piece of canvas hanging vertically within thecontainer almost to the floor thereof. A plurality of horizontal sewlines, fixing the sides of the looped canvas sheet together definehorizontal, slots which each receive a conventional restraining beltwith logistic clips fixed to either end thereof. These belts serve theconventional restraining function and very importantly, the slots in thelooped canvas support for the belts permit the belts to be verticallyadjusted to accommodate logistic rails at varying heights. This isextremely important, since the height of the logistic rails, in onevehicle may vary widely from the height of-the logistic rails in anothervehicle, and thus, the. present load restrainer and divider system isadaptable to. different vehicular containers with differently positionedlogistic rails.

To. prevent the lossv or removal of the belts from the canvas support,straps are provided between the looped canvas support that are fixed tothe support and also fixed to the belts, but; these straps do notinhibit the vertical positioning of the belts within the loopedcanvaspockets.

To facilitate loading and unloading of the vehicle, the presentrestrainersystem is retractable to a position at the top of thecontainer by straps at each side of the canvas support which are loopedover the top bar and have fasteners, at, the end thereof which clip intothe logistic sidev rails. within the vehicular container.

Thus, the; primary purpose of the present system is to function as acargov holding or dividing device. It is primarily designed to maintain,the vehicular containers load of cargo safely supported or divided; to.prevent damaged freight and to afford-segregation of cargo while intransit between or within shipping or receiving facilities.

;, The present sys em i arastisa l m nce fre defeated 1W1?'csniponemparts and of these only two parts, the buckles and. the fitting, haveremovable parts. Both of thesepartsarereadily accessible andinexpensive, The belts and the buckles. can also be adapted to existingequipment without-1 special or new rails or new tracks: being installed.

Another advantage, is; that the present system eliminates costlyblocking and, bracing; and provides a dependable consistent carrierwith; a liability claim prevention device...

The forward and; the, backward strength of the unit may approach,40,000; pounds of direct force and accommodates. most: all types.- ofloadedv cargo.

Because of the short. axial. length of the present system, or thinness.thereof, every slot in the logistic rails in the, container side walls.may be employed.

Moreover, the system adds extra protection to the most vulnerable areaof the trailer or container near its rear doors.

Still further, another advantage of the present inven tion is thatminimal educational processes are required for the freight handlers inorder to operate the same.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view, partlybroken away, illustrating a semi-trailer with the present load dividerand restrainer;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross section of the semi-trailer shown in FIG. 1taken generally along line 22 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary top view of the draw strap mechanism takengenerally along line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross section taken generally along line 44 of FIG. 2illustrating the canvas support loops; and

FIG. 5 is a cross section taken generally along line 55 of FIG. 2illustrating the interconnection between the straps and the logisticside rails of the container.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to thedrawings and particularly FIGS. 1 and 2, a semi-trailer is illustratedhaving slidable therein a load divider and restraining system 12according to the present invention. The load restraining and dividingmechanism 12 may be employed to divide one load from another load whenmultiple shipments are carried, using one or more of the systems 12, ormay simply be used as a load restrainer holding the load securely inposition when less than a full container is required to receive theload.

The container 10 includes a bottom wall 14, side walls I5 and 16, frontwall 17, top wall 18 and a rear door 19.

Mounted on the side walls 15 and 16 are logistic rails 20, 21, 22 and 23on wall 16 and rails 24, 25, 26 and 27 on wall 15. As seen in FIG. 4,the logistic rails have a plurality of I-shaped slots 30 therein thatreceive and hold clips 32 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 5.

It should be understood that the dividing and restraining system 12 maybe used with fastening devices other than the logistic rails 20, etc.For example, the rails may be vertically positioned rather thanhorizontally positioned as shown in the drawings.

For the purpose of permitting the load restrainer and divider 12 to bepositioned at any location throughout the length of the trailer 10,channel-shaped tracks 36 and 37 are provided at the top inside of theside walls 16 and 15, respectively. These tracks 36 and 37 are easilyroll formed and inexpensive in construction, and

are connected by suitable threaded fasteners to the walls 16 and 15.This simple attachment of the tracks 36 and 37 permits the present loadretaining system 12 to be easily incorporated into existing vehiclecontainers, as well as being an original equipment installation.

To slidably support the restrainer system 12 within the tracks 36 and37, a horizontally disposed steel rod 40 is provided having circulardiscs 42 and 43 fixed to the ends thereof and slidable in thechannel-shaped tracks 36 and 37, respectively.

Suspended from the rod 40 is a wide loop of canvas 47 that extendsdouble fold substantially the height of the interior of the container 10and also substantially across the width of the container. As seen moreclearly in FIG. 4, the canvas supporting web 47 has sew lines 49, 50,51, 52, 53 and 54 that extend horizontally completely across thesupporting canvas 47 defining slots 60, 61, 62, 63, 64 and 65 betweenthe sides of the canvas member 47. The slot 60 receives the rod 40, theslot 62 receives a restraining strap 70, the slot 63 receives arestraining strap 72, the slot 64 receives a restraining strap 74, andthe'slot 65 receives a restraining strap 76.

The restraining straps 70, 72, 74 and 76 serve primarily as retainingand restraining elements which carry the main portion of the load inrestraining the load and holding it in position. However, the canvas 47between the straps also serves a dividing and restraining function.

The belts 70, etc., have buckle assemblies 78 that permit the belts tobe tightened or loosened to their proper position. At each end of thebelts 70, 72, 74 and 76 are fixed fastening clips 32 which fit into thelshaped slots 30 in the logistic side rails 20, etc. as described above.I

To assure a maximum load carrying capability of the belts 70, 72, 74 and76, they are vertically positionable with respect to the supportingcanvas 47. Toward this end, the belts are freely movable verticallybetween the sew lines, such as 50, 51, in the canvas 12. This permitsthe belts to remain horizontal in their load carrying position, andthus, they have their maximum load carrying capability, which of coursethey would not have if they were not substantially horizontal throughoutthe length thereof.

For the purpose of preventing removal of the belts 70, 72, 74 and 76from the supporting canvas 47, a strap 80 is sewn between the canvasloop 47 at points 82, 84, 86, 88 and 90. The strap 80 is fixed to thebelts 70, 72, 74 and 76 by sew points 92, 94, 96 and 98. The loops 100in the strap 80 between the sew points at the canvas 47 and the beltspermit the free movement of the belts vertically within the pocketsbetween the canvas 47, but prevent the complete removal of the beltsfrom the supporting canvas 47.

During'unloading and loading, or when the restrainer system 12 is not inuse, it is stowable at the top of the container 10. Toward this end,straps 106 and 107 are provided at each side of the canvas 47. In asimilar fashion to the canvas, the straps 106 and 107 are double foldedand have sew points as indicated at 110, 111, l 12, 113 and I 14defining loops which receive the belts 70, 72, 74 and 76. The straps 106and 107 are folded across the top of the rod 40, and have buckleassemblies for the purpose of raising and lowering the restrainingsystem 12. At the end of each of the straps 106, 107 is a clip 124,similar to clips 32 which fits in one of the logistic rails 23 to holdthe straps in position. To raise the straps 106 and 107, the buckleassemblies 120 are released and the straps pulled up until the canvas 47bunches at the top of the container carrying the belts 70, 72, 74 and 76therewith.

During use, after the entire load or the desired portion of the load isplaced within the container 10, the buckles 120 are released loweringthe canvas 47 and the canvas 47 and rod 40 are slid within the containeruntil adjacent the rear end of the load. Thereafter, the clips 32 arefixed to the side rails adjacent the end of the load and the buckles 78are cinched pulling the straps 70, 72, 74 and 76 tightly against theload along with the canvas 47. It should be understood that the canvas47 in addition to performing a dividing function also performs somerestraining function on the load. Moreover, when the restraining device12 is employed with small goods, such as small boxes, the canvas 47serves the function of preventing small boxes or goods from slippingbetween the belts 70, 72, 74 and 76.

As seen in FIG. 4, the ends 150 of the side rails 36, 37 are overturnedto prevent removal of the discs 42, 43 and thus, prevent the removal ofthe entire load retainer 12 from the vehicle container 10.

I claim:

1. A load restrainer, comprising: vertically extending support meansadapted to be supported within a container, a plurality of horizontalrestraining belts engaging said support means, fasteners on each end ofsaid restraining belts cooperating with fasteners means adapted to bemounted on the container walls, and means permitting vertical adjustmentof the belts with respect to the support means to accommodate differentlocation fasteners within the container.

2. The load restrainer of claim 1, said support means having a guide barat the top thereof, track means adapted to be mounted to the containerside walls, said guide bar being slidable in said track means.

3. The load restrainer of claim 1, wherein said fastener means includesa plurality of rails having apertures therein.

4. The load restrainer of claim 1, wherein said support means includes aflexible sheet of material, horizontal slots in said support sheet forreceiving the belts.

5. The load restrainer of claim 4, including means loosely holding thebelts in said slots.

6. The load restrainer of claim 1, including means for drawing thesupport means to the top of the container forstorage.

'7. The load restrainer of claim 6, said means for drawing the supportmeans including a draw strap, said draw strap having a fastener at theend thereof connectable with one of the fasteners within the container.

8. The load restrainer of claim 1, including side tracks adapted to bemounted to the container side walls for supporting said support meansfor horizontal movement, and means for preventing removal of the supportmeans from the side tracks.

9. A load restrainer, comprising: fastener means adapted to bepermanently fixed within a container, tracks adapted to be mountedwithin the upper section of such container, a support rod slidable insaid tracks, a flexible support sheet suspended from said rod and havinga plurality of horizontally extending slots therein, a plurality ofhorizontal belts extending through said slots, said belts havingfasteners on the ends thereof adapted to be connected to fasteners inthe container, means loosely fixing the belts within the slots toprevent their loss, and means for drawing the support sheet and belts tothe top of the container for storage.

10. A load restrainer, comprising: a plurality of permanent fasteners, asupport means adapted to be suspended from the top of a container, saidsupport means including an endless belt of flexible material adapted tobe extended a substantial distance across the container, said flexiblebelt having horizontal straps where the sides of the belt are fixedtogether forming horizontal pockets in the support belt, and a pluralityof horizontal restraining belts in the pockets.

11. The load restrainer of claim 10, wherein said belts have fastenersat each end thereof.

12. The load restrainer of claim 10, wherein said support belt iscanvas.

13. A load restrainer, comprising: a sheet of flexible support materialsuspended from the upper reaches of a container, a plurality ofhorizontally disposed belts carried by said support means, fasteners ateach end of said belts, a vertically extending strap for pulling thesupport and the belts to the upper reaches of a container, said straphaving a fastener at the end thereof for attachment to the container.

14. The load restrainer of claim 13, wherein said strap has loops thatfit around each of said belts.

15. The load restrainer of claim 13, wherein said strap is loosely fixedto the belts.

1. A load restrainer, comprising: vertically extending support meansadapted to be supported witHin a container, a plurality of horizontalrestraining belts engaging said support means, fasteners on each end ofsaid restraining belts cooperating with fasteners means adapted to bemounted on the container walls, and means permitting vertical adjustmentof the belts with respect to the support means to accommodate differentlocation fasteners within the container.
 2. The load restrainer of claim1, said support means having a guide bar at the top thereof, track meansadapted to be mounted to the container side walls, said guide bar beingslidable in said track means.
 3. The load restrainer of claim 1, whereinsaid fastener means includes a plurality of rails having aperturestherein.
 4. The load restrainer of claim 1, wherein said support meansincludes a flexible sheet of material, horizontal slots in said supportsheet for receiving the belts.
 5. The load restrainer of claim 4,including means loosely holding the belts in said slots.
 6. The loadrestrainer of claim 1, including means for drawing the support means tothe top of the container for storage.
 7. The load restrainer of claim 6,said means for drawing the support means including a draw strap, saiddraw strap having a fastener at the end thereof connectable with one ofthe fasteners within the container.
 8. The load restrainer of claim 1,including side tracks adapted to be mounted to the container side wallsfor supporting said support means for horizontal movement, and means forpreventing removal of the support means from the side tracks.
 9. A loadrestrainer, comprising: fastener means adapted to be permanently fixedwithin a container, tracks adapted to be mounted within the uppersection of such container, a support rod slidable in said tracks, aflexible support sheet suspended from said rod and having a plurality ofhorizontally extending slots therein, a plurality of horizontal beltsextending through said slots, said belts having fasteners on the endsthereof adapted to be connected to fasteners in the container, meansloosely fixing the belts within the slots to prevent their loss, andmeans for drawing the support sheet and belts to the top of thecontainer for storage.
 10. A load restrainer, comprising: a plurality ofpermanent fasteners, a support means adapted to be suspended from thetop of a container, said support means including an endless belt offlexible material adapted to be extended a substantial distance acrossthe container, said flexible belt having horizontal straps where thesides of the belt are fixed together forming horizontal pockets in thesupport belt, and a plurality of horizontal restraining belts in thepockets.
 11. The load restrainer of claim 10, wherein said belts havefasteners at each end thereof.
 12. The load restrainer of claim 10,wherein said support belt is canvas.
 13. A load restrainer, comprising:a sheet of flexible support material suspended from the upper reaches ofa container, a plurality of horizontally disposed belts carried by saidsupport means, fasteners at each end of said belts, a verticallyextending strap for pulling the support and the belts to the upperreaches of a container, said strap having a fastener at the end thereoffor attachment to the container.
 14. The load restrainer of claim 13,wherein said strap has loops that fit around each of said belts.
 15. Theload restrainer of claim 13, wherein said strap is loosely fixed to thebelts.